Klooker is here to independently support you in your quest to replace 'regular' products by ethical, sustainable ones.

Interested in our story on perfumes and aftershaves (by our Klookerite Alex Cuschieri), please continue reading. All bold and italic words are links with background information.

Perfumery is big business

Walking through almost any airport, enticing, vibrant, visually and usually sexually appealing posters are lit up by blindingly bright white light and pleasant smells perforate the air surrounding the perfume section at duty free.

There is an estimated 95% gross profit to be made on a bottle of a nice smelling liquid and around 97% of the money that fragrance companies spend on their products is spent on advertising and packaging.

This means only around 3% actually gets spent on the liquid inside the bottle.

But what exactly is in the smelly stuff that we soak into our skin?

Well usually a concerning concoction of some of the 3,100 stock chemicals the fragrance industry have at their disposal. All of which they are permitted to hide ('trade secret' protected) despite some being potentially hazardous and harmful.

There has been a surge in the use of these synthetic chemicals as companies move away from less ethical and sustainable practices associated with natural scents.

There are however safer synthetics and essential oils that still smell great, and more importantly pose fewer risks to your health or the environment.

However, these are more expensive to source, so inevitably the large companies are not in any rush to join us on this one!

So until they prioritise spending more on ingredients to safeguard our health over spending on some sexy, seductive, semi naked celeb, be mindful of what you may be spraying onto the largest organ of your body.